Project Potty

What do you get when you have this:


And this:

Plus this:

And him:

We'll keep you posted!

"Treasure" Sssurprise

I was busy making dinner yesterday when Mathison stepped outside on the back porch. While in the middle of peeling a potato, I heard him come inside and exclaim, "Look Mom - I found a treasure!"

'How cute,' I thought, as I cut the potato. Mathison had just finished watching a Blues Clues episode, and here he acting out what he had seen.....or so I thought. But as I glanced over at the "treasure", something definitely seemed off. At first I thought Mathison was holding a thick shoestring or a small rope, but it didn't take me long to realize I was looking at the underbelly of a snake dangling in his hands.

It appeared dead, but I wasn't taking any chances. I had Mathison put it on the floor, then rounded up my snake expert and extraction specialist - Bronson. He grabbed a paper towel and carefully turned the snake over. My heart started beating faster as I saw the markings; it definitely looked like a baby rattlesnake.

Meanwhile, Mathison was starting to ask when he could get his "treasure" back.

So, what was a rattlesnake doing on our back doorstep? I'm guessing that one of the cats killed it and deposited it there; in the past, we have found birds, mice, and even lizards they have "brought" us. I'm hoping they found the snake on the mountain; I don't even want to think about the possibility that it was lurking somewhere in our yard.

Most of all, I am extremely grateful that Mathison wasn't hurt. Next time, I hope he'll go hunting for a more traditional "treasure"!

Demotion

Whenever I ask Bronson a question, I can be sure to get the truth - plain and simple, without any sugarcoating.

Bronson started college classes on Monday, and when I asked him today how things were going he stated, "Fine. I'm just not happy about the demotion."

Demotion?

When I asked what he meant, Bronson replied, "I had to work four years in high school to become a senior - and here I am, starting over as a freshman again."

At least freshmen in college don't get stuffed into lockers and aren't given whirlies :)

(NOTE: For those of you who are interested, Bronson is taking 14 credits this semester and is majoring in English.)

Bookworm

Mathison has been quite interested in "adult" books lately - those with many pages and no pictures. He'll often pull one off of the bookshelf in the family room and "browse" through it before selecting another one.

A few days ago, Mathison and Krissia were alone in the family room when he began browsing through the books again. Krissia noticed that he had suddenly grown very quiet, so she began watching his behavior. Mathison seemed to be taking his time with a certain book, turning the pages carefully and "reading" it from cover to cover. After he'd turned the last page, Mathison sighed and said,"That was a really good book."

He then turned to Krissia and exclaimed, "You should read it, Krissia!"

Hooray for 5k!

Run, that is. $5,000 wouldn't be bad, either.

Anyway, most of the Beatty family participated in a "Beat the President" 5k run this morning as part of Dixie College's Freshman's Weekend. I'm happy to say that everyone finished and no one was incapacitated :)

Krissia finished first out of our family with a time of 21 minutes. Not bad for someone who hasn't run since April! Jefferson finished next in about 26 minutes, and was proud of himself for not stopping to rest at all during the race. Bronson and DEl came in around the 30 minute mark, with both of them posting times which beat the college president. Everyone that did so won a 25% discount coupon for merchandise at DSC's bookstore.

Mathison had a late night and no nap the day before, so he was sleeping at home with Mom. I totally plan on running next time; it sounded like so much fun!

I'm so proud of my family members, as this was their first 5k for each of them....go Beatty family!!

Back to Real Life

For the past month, my mantra has been "Once this play is over, I'll finally have some time to myself again."

Sadly, this hasn't happened quite yet....and I have a feeling that life won't ever "settle down" while I have kids at home. Oh well, someday I'll have my life back :)

Anyway, I've taken a lot of pictures lately but just haven't had the time to edit and post them. This batch was taken about 10 days ago, when I met my sister Nicole and her boys at Jumpin' Jacks for an afternoon of fun a week before school started.

Mathison finally was brave enough to try climbing a slide on his own:


I tried some fun effects on this photo of Jefferson:


Cooper, Jefferson, and Mathison posing for me in the bounce area:


Dance Party! This is where they shut off the lights, turn on the dance strobe, and crank up the music:


I think the boys are doing the "chicken" in this photo:


Not quite sure what Jefferson is doing here, but I think it's fun that you can see Nicole in the background:


Doing the wave. I think Nicole looks so cute with her little prego bump :) She was such a good sport, dancing with her boys the whole time:

Beautiful Girl

Krissia has once again decided to compete in the Miss Utah Outstanding Teen Pageant this year. She recently had her pictures taken by our friend Karl Hugh in Cedar City, and he did a fantastic job. This picture is the one she chose as her head shot for the judges.

And no - Krissia didn't really get her braces taken off just for the photo shoot; Karl was able to edit them out of the photos. However, her orthodontist has agreed to take them off for the pageant.....lucky girl!

One of THOSE Mornings

Today was the first day of school.

Unfortunately, Jefferson was sent home before classes even began.

Apparently, Utah has a new law where all 7th graders have to have certain booster shots or they cannot attend school. Who knew? Supposedly, they mailed out this information to the parents in June.....but we never received it.

I was in the middle of a diaper change with Mathison when this dilemma hit, and I was in such a rush to call the doctor's office and get Jefferson in that I decided that Mathison could wait a few minutes before getting a new diaper on.

Bad decision.

The pediatrician could squeeze Jefferson in as long as I could get him there by 9 a.m. After wiping up the urine that was now soaking into the carpet, I had about 5 minutes to get dressed and ready. At 8:50 I was headed out the door, when I realized that I didn't have my keys. A quick search didn't turn them up, and I remembered that DEl had used them the night before. I called him, but he didn't know where they were.

Very frustrating.

Luckily, Bronson was at home and very graciously let me borrow his car. We were five minutes late getting to the doctor's, but they didn't seem too upset. The appointment went well; Jefferson was declared healthy and received his needed shots. We were halfway to the school when he realized he'd left his backpack at home, which was another 20 minute detour. I finally got him there....only 2 1/2 hours late.

I just hope the rest of the school year is smoother!

Almost There

When I auditioned for Annie Get Your Gun, I can truly say I didn't anticipate the many, many hours it would take. For the past six weeks, I've spent about 30 hours per week in rehearsal and production....almost the equivalent of a full-time job! We've finally reached the last week, and I have to admit that I'm ready for it to end :) Don't get me wrong; it's been a lot of fun, I've made many new friends, and it's been a wonderful way to spend some one-on-one time with Jefferson. The show is also great; the cast has gotten a standing ovation for every show. It's just that I'm ready to have a little time to BREATHE again.

These pictures were actually taken a few weeks ago when the entire family was able to come watch the show(DEl and Krissia have each seen a second show since). The remaining shows for this week are on Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights @ 7:30, with a Saturday matinee @ 2 p.m. Shows are selling out fast - especially for the matinee, so I recommend you buy your tickets soon if you plan to catch the show before it closes.

Simply Amazing

Krissia has spent the last 3 days in SLC, at the Junior Olympic Long Course Championships. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go due to commitments with the musical, but DEl has been there, cheering her on.

Krissia competed in four events. She made top eight in two of them, and collectively took off more than five seconds from her qualifying times. Perhaps the most exciting part is that Krissia is about a half-second away from qualifying for the western zone conference competition in two events (the 50 free and 100 back). After zone comes sectionals, and then the US Olympic Trials.

Pretty exciting stuff!